Applied Ethics Commons^™

Depaul Digest

DePaul Magazine

DePaulia Fantasy Football League; Democratizing Medicine; Campus/Alumni Calendar of Events; Regional Chapters; Musings: DePaul FEST; Milestones; Student Profile: Gabby Henderson; Master Class: The Perniciousness of "Ethical Decision-Making"

Universe Of Things: A Human Presentation Of Food-For-Thought., Madeline Halpern

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

I present this statement under three loose categories: People, Objects and their Environment. I consider People as human, Objects as art objects, domestic objects, and food, and Environment as the shared space of the former groups. Food directs this statement as I present each concept and creative process as a metaphorical dish. Material exploration carried me from a direct practice of reorienting acrylic paint and questioning object functionality through personified sculptures into theoretical thesis work in which I use interpersonal relations and the idea of consumption to translate tactile, gustatory and olfactory sensations into digital film. In this meal I …

Wolves Are Wild: A Collection Of Narratives About Rescued Wolves And Wolfdogs, Molly G. Vorhaus

Student Publications

Breeders across the country are creating wolfdogs by breeding dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) with wolves (Canis lupus) for a large profit. This project is a response to the growing exotic pet trade of wolves and wolfdogs. Through this project, I hope to bring awareness to the issues associated with these animals being raised in captivity. Recent research has shown that raising a wolf or wolfdog in captivity can lead to various negative psychological and physical effects on the animal, and can cause potential problems for humans as well. This practice is embedded in the concept of humans wanting to own …

Lab‐Grown Meat And Veganism: A Virtue‐Oriented Perspective, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

The project of growing meat artificially represents for some the next best thing to humanity. If successful, it could be the solution to several problems, such as feed- ing a growing global population while reducing the environmental impact of raising animals for food and, of course, reducing the amount and degree of animal cruelty and suffering that is involved in animal farming. In this paper, I argue that the issue of the morality of such a project has been framed only in terms of the best conse- quences for the environment, animals, and humans, or in terms of deontic princi- …

The Ethics Of Human-Animal Relationships And Public Discourse: A Case Study Of Lions Bred For Their Bones, Peter Coals, Dawn Burnham, Andrew Loveridge, David W. Macdonald, Michael 'T Sas-Rolfes, Vivvienne Williams, John A. Vucetich

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Conservation and natural resource management are increasingly attending the ethical elements of public decisions. Ethical considerations are challenging, in part, because they typically require accounting for the moral consideration of various human and nonhuman forms of life, whose interests sometimes conflict (or seem to conflict). A valuable tool for such evaluations is the formal analysis of ethical arguments. An ethical argument is a collection of premises, logically interrelated, to yield a conclusion that can be expressed in the form, “We ought to…” According to the rules of logic, a conclusion is supported by an argument if all its …

Just Policy Paralysis?, Clare Palmer, Bob Fischer

Animal Sentience

Treves et al. (2019) argue that policy making should include the interests and well-being of present and future generations of humans and nonhumans. There are deep and abiding conflicts of interest both between and within these groups. Trying to factor in so many considerations is likely to generate political gridlock. The authors need to explain how to avoid this.

Smart Sheep Need More Protection, Michael L. Woodruff

Animal Sentience

The target article unequivocally establishes that sheep are far more intelligent and cognitively sophisticated than is generally acknowledged. For this reason, the authors advocate for significantly more stringent regulation of agricultural and research practices when sheep are used. I briefly review the existing US regulations governing the use of sheep in research and discuss the extent to which they are applied to sheep. I then discuss weaknesses in the current regulations, concluding that they should be changed to mandate housing all research animals in environments that accommodate the psychosocial needs of each species.

Sentience Is The Foundation Of Animal Rights, Michael L. Woodruff

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman argue that the cognitive differences between humans and nonhuman animals do not make humans superior to animals. I suggest that humans have domain-general cognitive abilities that make them superior in causing uniquely complex changes in the world not caused by any other species. The ability to conceive of and articulate a claim of rights is an example. However, possession of superior cognitive ability does not entitle humans to superior moral status. It is sentience, not cognitive complexity, that is the basis for the assignment of rights and the protections under the law that accompany them.

Moral Relevance Of Cognitive Complexity, Empathy And Species Differences In Suffering, John Lazarus

Animal Sentience

I qualify two criticisms made by commentators on Chapman & Huffman’s target article. Responding to the view that differences between humans and other animals are irrelevant to deciding how we should treat other species, I point out that differences between any species in their capacity to suffer are morally relevant. And in response to the claim that suffering is the sole criterion for the moral treatment of animals, I argue that cognitive complexity and a capacity for empathy also have moral relevance to the extent that they influence suffering.

Neuroethics Guiding Principles For The Nih Brain Initiative, Henry T. Greely, Christine Grady, Khara M. Ramos, Winston Chiong, James Eberwine, Nita A. Farahany, L. Syd M. Johnson, Et. Al.

Department of Humanities Publications

Neuroscience presents important neuroethical considerations. Human neuroscience demands focused application of the core research ethics guidelines set out in documents such as the Belmont Report. Various mechanisms, including institutional review boards (IRBs), privacy rules, and the Food and Drug Administration, regulate many aspects of neuroscience research and many articles, books, workshops, and conferences address neuroethics. (Farah, 2010; https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcsbi/studies.html; http://www.neuroethicssociety.org/annual-meeting). However, responsible neuroscience research requires continual dialogue among neuroscience researchers, ethicists, philosophers, lawyers, and other stakeholders to help assess its ethical, legal, and societal implications. The Neuroethics Working Group of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative …

Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives In An Age Of Crisis By Molly Wallace And David Carruthers, Bryant Scott

The Goose

Review of Molly Wallace and David Carruthers' Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives in an Age of Crisis.

Application Of Fraser’S “Practical” Ethic In Veterinary Practice, And Its Compatibility With A “One Welfare” Framework, Anne Fawcett, Siobhan Mullan, Paul Mcgreevy

Professional Veterinary Ethics Collection

Ethically challenging situations are common in veterinary practice, and they may be a source of moral stress, which may in turn impact the welfare of veterinarians. Despite recognition of the importance of ethical reasoning, some veterinary students may struggle to apply theoretical ethical frameworks. Fraser developed a “practical” ethic consisting of four principles that can be applied to ethically challenging situations. We apply Fraser’s “practical” ethic to three cases that veterinarians may encounter: animal hoarding, animal neglect, and treatment of wildlife. We argue that Fraser’s “practical” ethic is consistent with a One Welfare framework, and may have increasing currency for …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Animal Suicide: An Account Worth Giving?, Irina Mikhalevich

Animal Sentience

Peña-Guzmán (2017) argues that empirical evidence and evolutionary theory compel us to treat the phenomenon of suicide as continuous in the animal kingdom. He defends a “continuist” account in which suicide is a multiply-realizable phenomenon characterized by self-injurious and self-annihilative behaviors. This view is problematic for several reasons. First, it appears to mischaracterize the Darwinian view that mind is continuous in nature. Second, by focusing only on surface-level features of behavior, it groups causally and etiologically disparate phenomena under a single conceptual umbrella, thereby reducing the account’s explanatory power. Third, it obscures existing analyses of suicide in biomedical ethics and …

Disarming “Nature” As A Weapon: A Queer Ecosemiotic Reimagining Of Futurity And Environmental Ethics Through Memoir, Sam Lauer

Master’s Theses

In this thesis, I posit that the need for an active, conscious, and radical queering of ecocriticism as a literary and cultural theory has arisen in light of the postmodern problematization of “nature” and the “natural,” along with the queerness of society, culture, and science. The way we understand “nature” (in life and in texts), whether of physical environments, inherent selfhood, or normalcy, begs to be appropriately informed by discourses and realities of queerness in order for both social and environmental healing to take place. I have analyzed three works of queer creative nonfiction—memoirs—to illuminate the ways in which the …

Fish Sentience Denial: Muddy Moral Water, Robert C. Jones

Animal Sentience

Sneddon et al. (2018) authoritatively summarize the compelling and overwhelming evidence for fish sentience, while methodically dismantling one rather emblematic research paper (Diggles et al. 2017) intended to discount solid evidence of fish sentience (Lopez-Luna et al. 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, & 2017d). I explore the larger practical moral contexts within which these debates take place and argue that denials of animal sentience are really moral canards.

Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

With walking as ontological shifter I pursue an alternative to the dominant modernist episteme that offers either/or onto-epistemologies of opposition and their reifying engagements. I propose this type of walking is an intentional turning towards a set of radical positions that, as integrative aesthetic and therapeutic practice, brings multiplicity and synchronicity to experience and being in an expanded sociality. This practice facilitates the conditions of possibility for recurring points of contact between the interiority perceived as ‘body’ and the exteriority perceived as ‘world.’ While making evident the self’s at once incoherence with it-self, it opens to a space beyond the …

Nagel-Ing Worries About Fish Sentience, Hugh Lafollette

Animal Sentience

Woodruff (2017) argues that teleosts’ more sophisticated behaviors make sense only if they are sentient. Moreover, their neuroanatomy, although different from mammalian, is sufficiently complex to support sentience. I answer some potential objections to Woodruff’s argument, and try to trace its moral significance. In so doing, I briefly address Birch’s (2017) target article as well.

Refining The Precautionary Framework, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

Most of the commentators so far agree that the precautionary principle can be usefully applied to the question of animal sentience. I consider various ways of refining my proposals in light of the suggestions. I amend BAR to implement C. Brown’s suggestion that the scope of animal welfare law should be extensible by phylogenetic inference from orders in which credible indicators of sentience are found. In response to C. Brown, Mallatt, and Woodruff, I amend ACT to allow that a single credible indicator may sometimes call for urgent further investigation rather than immediate protection. In response …

Guantánamo Bodies: Law, Media, And Biopower, Cary H. Federman, Dave Holmes

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The idea of the Guantánamo detainee as a Muselmann, the lowest order of concentration camp inmates, contains within it important implications for the new understanding of sovereignty in the era of Guantánamo, in an age of exception. The purpose of this article is to explain the status of those who are detained at Guantánamo Bay. Stated broadly, in assessing that status, we will emphasize the connection between the altered meaning of sovereignty that has accompanied the placing of prisoners in an American penal colony in Cuba and the biopolitical status of the prisoners who reside there. More particularly, we …

The Role Of Nature In John Muir's Conception Of The Good Life, Randy R. Larsen

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Aristotle says our best moral guidance comes from considering the lives of exemplary individuals. I explore John Muir, as an exemplar of environmental virtue, and consider the role of Nature in his conception of the good life. I argue his conception consists of a web of virtue including various goods, values, and virtues. I suggest three virtues are cardinal: attentiveness, gratitude and reverence. I explore how Muir cultivated these virtues in Nature.

I argue Muir sought freedom from a popular conception of the good life, grounded in the gilded age values of money and materialism, and was sensitive to the …

Risk And Ethics In Biological Control, Ernest S. Delfosse

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

All introduced natural enemies present a degree of risk to nontarget species. Since most biological control programs use relatively host-specific natural enemies, the risk to nontarget species is generally very low, particularly from biological control of weeds, which uses extensively tested and validated host-specificity testing procedures to predict risk. However, many of the published comments about risks of biological control are superficial or misleading, often inappropriately lumping risk from all taxa of agents as “the risk of biological control,” and ignore the potential benefits, rather than dealing with species-by-species risk and benefits. Particularly confounding accurate predictions is the common mixing …

Problems With Kosher Slaughter, Temple Grandin

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

Ritual slaughter to produce kosher meat is rooted in the teachings and writings of the Talmud. However, the preslaughter handling features of modern systems, particularly the shackling and hoisting of large steers, contravene the basic message of humaneness included in the teachings. The throat-cutting of a live, conscious animal is relatively pain-free, provided that certain precautions are followed, but U.S. kosher plants need to install newly developed conveyor-restrainer systems to eliminate the abuses of shackling and hoisting. Conveyor-restrainer systems for large and small animals are discussed.

Live Animals In Car Crash Studies, Nancy Heneson

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

No abstract provided.

Sheep Mulesing And Animal Lib, Nancy Heneson

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

The practice of mulesing sheep to prevent blowfly strike has recently come under fire from the Animal Liberation movement in Australia. Although it is only one of the many issues which Animal Lib has raised in its campaign to reform various sectors of the livestock industry, it is particularly illustrative of the kinds of conflicts in world view which arise when animal rights activists turn the spotlight on the farming establishment. Spokesmen for the livestock industries are quick to stress the emotional and sometimes sensational portrayal by Animal Libbers of time-honored animal management practices, as well as the sinister role …

Meetings And Announcements

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

1. Meeting Report - Animals in Research
2. Announcement - Abstract exchange
3. New APHIS administrator
4. Newsletter on the Human-Companion Animal Bond
5. Veterinarians for Animal Protection
6. New editor for Equine Study Group
7. Bibliography of Animal Ethology

Definition Of The Concept Of ''Humane Treatment" In Relation To Food And Laboratory Animals, Bernard E. Rollin

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

The very title of this talk makes a suggestion which must be forestalled, namely the idea that laboratory and food animals enjoy some exceptional moral status by virtue of the fact that we use them. In fact, it is extremely difficult to find any morally relevant grounds for distinguishing between food and laboratory animals and other animals and, far more dramatically, between animals and humans. The same conditions which require that we apply moral categories to humans rationally require that we apply them to animals as well. While it is obviously pragmatically impossible in our current sociocultural setting to expect …

Nsmr: Its Image, Direction And Future, J. Russell Lindsey

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

The following speech was presented by Dr. Lindsey, Chairman of the University of Alabama Department of Comparative Medicine, at the Annual Board Meeting of the National Society for Medical Research (NSMR), Chicago, Illinois, November 10, 1979.

Laboratory Animals And Alternatives In The 80'S, Andrew N. Rowan

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

No abstract provided.